The mass exodus of senior Indian- American Obama adminis- tration officials continued un- abated with the nation’s first fed- eral Chief Technology Officer,
Aneesh Chopra, stepping down from his
White House position last week.

The father and son combination of Suresh
and Aditya Kumar — the only such duo in
the Obama administration and perhaps a
first in any United States administration in
the Indian-American immigrant experience
—also quit their Department of Commerce
and White House positions, respectively.

Suresh, popularly known as the administration’s export czar, was assistant secretary
of commerce and director general of the US
and Foreign Commercial Service. Aditya
was deputy assistant to the vice president
and senior advisor to the chief of staff in the
office of the vice president.

While each of them were leaving the
administration to explore different options
— from a possible run for elected office to
joining the private sector — all of them told
India Abroad that they were committed to
President Barack Obama and would work
from the outside on his re-election campaign, while striving to carry out his agenda.

Big blow

Continuing the exodus that began lastyear, three senior Indian-AmericanObama administration officials quit.

AZIZ HANIFFA reports

However, by deciding to fly the coop
before Obama completes his first term, they
joined more than half-a-dozen other senior
Indian-American Obama faithfuls who have
departed. Only a handful like Dr Raj Shah,
the administrator of the US Agency for
International Development and the highest-ranking Indian American in the administration; and Dr Islam A ‘Isi’ Siddiqui, chief
agricultural negotiator, office of the US
Trade Representative; remain in their posts.

Khanna was hoping to make a run forCongress from his native Fremont,California, 13th Congressional district if theDemocratic incumbent, CongressmanFortney ‘Pete’ Stark, who is over 80 years oldand has served over half his lifetime in theUS House of Representatives decided toretire. Shah said she was leaving essentiallybecause of ‘burn-out’ and going to spend ayear traveling, including in India.

Aneesh Chopra for Virginialieutenant governor?

retiring Democratic Senator James Webb,
and for President Obama’s re-election bid,
particularly since the latter is likely to
encounter a tough fight to recapture the
support he enjoyed in 2008 in this swing
state. Following Kaine’s tenure, Virginia
elected a Republican Governor, Bob

AZIZ HANIFFA

It is widely believed that Aneesh Chopra, who resigned last week as thefirst White Housechieftechnolo- gy officer, is mulling a run for Virginia lieutenant governor. He is
likely to make an announcement once he
forms an exploratory committee and is confident that he can raise the millions
required to make such a bid viable.

Sources told India Abroadthat, considering his almost three-year stint with the
Obama administration, his earlier incarnation as CTO in then Virginia governor Tim
Kaine’s administration and the network of
high-tech heavyweights he has developed
— Chopra was also the co-founder of the
Indian American CEO Council in
Washington, DC, which has now tied up
with The Indus Entrepreneurs — raising
the money wouldn’t be a problem.

When President Obama appointed him
in May 2009, which necessitated that
Chopra move to DC, he did not give up his
home in Richmond, and it was well known
that his love for politics and the fact that he
had told several of his well-wishers that he
would one day like to run for statewide
office, would gnaw at him, sooner than
later.

According to the sources, besides the
mainstream technology heavyweights comprising chief executive officers of leading
companies in the Northern Virginia Dulles
Corridor — considered Virginia’s Silicon

Aneesh ChopraAs the federal government’sfirst chief technology officer,Aneesh Chopra did ground-breaking work to bring ourgovernment into the 21stcentury. Aneesh foundcountless ways to engage theAmerican people usingtechnology, from electronichealth records for veterans, toexpanding access tobroadband for ruralcommunities, to modernizinggovernment records. His legacyof leadership and innovationwill benefit Americans for yearsto come.

— President Barack Obama

Valley — who would gladly open their wal-lets for him, Indian-American heavy-weights in the technology sector and majorpolitical fundraisers like Sudhakar Shenoy,chairman and CEO, IMC, Inc; RanvirTrehan, erstwhile president of theNorthern Virginia Technology Council andphilanthropist, could also be counted on toback Chopra’s political ambitions.